


It's All for One and One for Always

by MayGlenn



Series: Maeglin's Hobbit Birthday Ficlet Gifts [16]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, Canon-Typical Psychic Brain Damage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:01:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26669377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayGlenn/pseuds/MayGlenn
Summary: For being three grown-ass adults who had already worked through jealousy, trauma, and opposing sexual orientations to settle into a perfectly functional and healthy polycule, Michael, Alex, and Maria could be absolute children about asking for help.
Relationships: Maria DeLuca/Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Series: Maeglin's Hobbit Birthday Ficlet Gifts [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1939471
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	It's All for One and One for Always

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tasyfa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tasyfa/gifts).



> From Tas: RNM; Michael/Maria or Michael/Maria/Alex, whichever ends up working better for you; and a song ("I'm Here" by Sweet Talk Radio).
> 
> I loved this prompt so much for these three, and really you got three little vignettes for the price of one out of it!

For being three grown-ass adults who had already worked through jealousy, trauma, and opposing sexual orientations to settle into a perfectly functional and healthy polycule, Michael, Alex, and Maria could be absolute children about asking for help. 

Maria held onto her “degenerative brain disorder” like she could beat it alone through sheer hustle. She broke down alone at Sunset Mesa the night Mimi didn’t even recognize her, and might have kept bearing it alone if she hadn’t come home and told Michael she was taking Alex to bed. 

Michael had laughed at the mixup, but Alex was the one who saw her nose start bleeding and caught her before she passed out. 

Michael made the phone call before she woke up. Liz and Max were there within the hour, by which time Maria was awake and she and Alex were in a bitching match about whether she was okay or not. Max was a little unnerved, but Liz just opened up her science bag and got to work. 

“They get like this sometimes,” she said, with a lifetime of them as her best friends to go on. Michael nodded in agreement. It was best to let Maria and Alex get into it when they wanted to get into it, and he would just make himself scarce. Now, though, Liz needed his help. 

“I mean, we haven’t tried me just healing her,” Max suggested. 

“I don’t think that would do it,” Liz said, looking at her notes from Kyle. “We don’t really know what’s to heal based on Mimi’s brain scans. My theory is that the protein in your blood is the difference between you, Isobel, Michael, and now Rosa, as compared to Maria and her mother and grandmother….” 

“And the only difference is we know the four of us have been in a pod and none of the DeLucas were,” Michael concluded, standing up. Liz was onto something. “So we need to get her into a pod.” 

“ _Nobody_ is getting me into a pod!” Maria cried. “What the hell? Stop talking about me like I’m not here.” 

“Maria,” Liz explained calmly. “I’m just going to run a few trials to see whether it’s safe and we can start…” 

“No! I’m not letting you perform your Frankenscience on me!” Maria said stubbornly. 

Alex sat on the bed. “Look, DeLuca, we’ve got to do something. I know you don’t want to wear the necklace or bracelet to dampen your abilities, and I get that. But you fainting in the kitchen is not—”

“I did _not_ faint—”

“—Sure, next time I’ll let you crack your dome on the kitchen floor,” Alex said. 

Maria glared. 

Alex took both her hands. “I get it. We’re rational people. You’re part alien, that’s fine. We’re dating an alien, whatever. But we’ve got an issue here, and it’s _irrational_ to keep ignoring it. And until the truth is out there, Maria, I’m afraid your very rational options are Liz’s Mad Science or Max’s fucking magic.” 

Alex held her gaze until Maria put her head in her hands, slouching her shoulders in defeat. “I’m here, Maria. We’re here. We want you here, too—”

“Oh, don’t fucking guilt trip me,” Maria snapped, but her irritation had taken on a determined set. “Fine. I’ll give you my blood to run some tests, but I’m not just going to let you inject me with anything that hasn’t been _tested_. I don’t know how all this works but I want at least one half-alien rat to get poked before I do.” 

“I’ll do my best,” Liz said. 

* * *

“You have no idea how humiliating this is,” Alex grumbled. 

“I know exactly how humiliating this is,” Maria countered. “I live my whole life being the short one.” 

“DeLuca…” 

The great indignity in question was Alex confined to a wheelchair being pushed around by Michael. while Maria carried his broken prosthetic. 

He liked the Veteran’s hospital in Lubbock, as far as VAs went, but it was way too huge for its own good, and traversing it on crutches would have taken twice the time (he knew this from personal experience, coming here alone as often as he had before Maria and Michael were in his life in this permanent sort of way). The leg wasn’t even that badly busted up, this time, he probably could have worn it and managed with crutches, but Michael and Maria wouldn’t hear of it. 

“I don’t know what you’re worried you look like, Alex. You’re at a Veteran’s hospital being escorted by two hotties who definitely aren’t your siblings,” Michael said. “You’re probably making all the Vietnam and Desert Storm guys jealous.” 

“Just don’t tip me over,” Aex grumbled. 

Maria rolled her eyes. “Oh, of course it’s a control thing. Do we need to buy you a self-pushing wheelchair, Alex? I’m glad to do it if it’ll make you happier, I’ll buy that.” 

“It’s not worth it if I take one wheelchair ride every three years,” Alex said, still obviously gritting his teeth, still obviously upset. 

Maria sighed and squeezed his shoulder. “I know this is hard for you, but we’re grateful you let us help you, sometimes.” 

Alex sighed. “Even if I’m bitchy about it?” 

Michael squeezed his other shoulder in sympathy. “Even if you’re bitchy about it.” 

“Both hands on the chair, Guerin!” 

“Sorry!” 

* * *

_“You stay in your pod, everything’s going to be alright.”_

_“Mom?”_

_“I just need to take care of this. I’ll let you know when it’s safe to come out, love.”_

_“I want to stay with you.”_

_“I need you to stay with the other children. Look after them for me. I love you, —”_

He always woke up right before she said his name. His real name, the one she gave him. It was a dream—maybe a memory—he’d gotten ever since he’d been to Caulfield, learned he had a mother who loved him and suffered for 70 years to protect him just so he could accidentally cause her death by—

Michael slipped out of bed, which was something of a feat since he slept in the middle. Normally he appreciated that. Right now he just needed to go run the shower and cry loudly while Maria and Alex slept. 

“Michael?” 

It was Alex’s voice, sleep-muffled, but if anyone was a lighter sleeper than Michael, it was Alex. 

“Go back to sleep, 'm just going to the bathroom,” Michael whispered. 

Alex patted the bed after he left, feeling the damp spot on the pillow that he would bet money wasn’t drool. He groaned like Frankenstein’s monster and reached across the empty space to nudge Maria. “M’ria. Wake up. Need you.” 

“Alex, iss five in the morning.” 

“Michael needs you,” Alex said, rubbing his face. “Bad dream again, I think. Go bring him back here or throw me my crutches.” 

Maria did both, setting Alex’s crutches within reach and sleep-walking to the bathroom. 

“Michael?” she wondered at the bathroom door, eyes still half closed, hair coming out of her bonnet. She tapped on the door. “Michael, baby, everything okay?” 

The light shut off and the door opened abruptly. “I’m fine. Go back to sleep.” 

Alex hobbled up. “It’s practically time to get up. I’m gonna make some coffee.” 

Alex was good at the practical sides of comfort, supplying a strong shoulder and stronger arms, a glass of water, a cup of coffee. Maria handled feelings. 

“Bad dream?” Maria asked, taking Michael’s hands. They were cold, so unlike him usually. 

“No, good dream,” Michael huffed, making an effort to laugh even as tears poured down his cheeks. “About my mom.”

“Those can be worse, sometimes,” Maria sympathized. 

She tugged on his hands, drawing him out to the living room, where they could watch the sun rise from the couch. Alex had opened the big windows and doors, cooling off the house, and was running the coffee grinder as Maria sat Michael down on the couch and wrapped him up in a blanket. He curled right up, leaning into her when she sat down next to him. He didn’t move except to accept a cup of coffee when Alex sat on his other side. Michael took his black with sugar, and Maria with cream, no sugar. Alex drank coffee actually black. 

They didn’t say anything. They didn’t need to. They _couldn’t_ , on some level, because nothing they could say would make a difference. But they were there. And together they watched the sky change colors and a new sun rise.


End file.
